Dinosaurs Reading Answers

Sep 13, 2024

Dinosaurs Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Dinosaurs Reading Answers has a total of 13 IELTS questions in total, 14-18 you have to state which paragraph contains the following information given in the question, 19-22 you have to fill in the blanks with correct words, and 23-26 you have to match the correct answer with the questions.

Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS Reading practice papers, which feature topics such as DinosaursReading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

READING PASSAGE - 2

DINOSAURS

COULD WE HAVE A REAL JURASSIC PARK?

The 1993 film Jurassic Park, based on the book by Michael Crichton, was a worldwide hit and went on to win three Academy Awards and give rise to five sequels. The plot was set on a remote island, where a wealthy entrepreneur had created a theme park featuring living dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA found in a mosquito, preserved in amber. The park's security system breaks down and the dinosaurs break out, causing chaos. It was a successful premise for a Hollywood film, but would it really be possible to bring these long gone reptiles back from the dead - Jurassic Park style? If so, would we really want to do it? Amber is fossilized resin from a tree that does often contain insects from the time of the dinosaurs, but when amber preserves these small animals, it preserves the outer shell and not soft tissues, so if there was any dinosaur blood in a mosquito, it would not survive.
This seems to rule out the possibility of using amber-preserved blood. However, this is not the only way that ancient insects' bodies have endured. Recently, a mosquito from the Eocene period was found in sediments from the bottom of a lake. The mosquito had, red pigment in its abdomen, which turned out to be a chemical compound from haemoglobin, the red protein that carries oxygen in the blood of animals. The mosquito was from fifty million years ago, after the time of the dinosaurs, but that's not to say that there might not be some preserved dinosaur blood somewhere from a mere 20 million years further back than that. However, it would not just require the preservation of blood, but also the DNA within it.
Another possibility might be to use DNA from blood cells in fossil bones from the dinosaurs themselves. In 2015, what looked like red blood cells were found in a dinosaur bone from the Cretaceous period. At first it was thought the sample might have been contaminated by cells from the archaeologists themselves, but this was ruled out because the cells contained nuclei which does not occur in mammals. When the cells were compared with red blood cells of birds who are directly descended from dinosaurs, they showed many similarities. However, when the nuclei were stained and observed under a high-powered electron microscope, scientists were unable to detect any DNA.
Ancient DNA is often recovered from the bodies of animals found in permafrost, such as a completely preserved 10,000 year-old mammoth found in Siberia in 2013, but these bones or body parts are not fossilized. DNA preserved in fossilized bones of an archaic human species called Denisovan from around 60,000 years ago has been successfully analysed. The oldest recovered and authenticated DNA from a fossilized bone belongs to a 700,000-year-old horse from northern Canada: So DNA can survive in an observable form in fossils, but dinosaur DNA would be a hundred times older than that of the Canadian horse.
So dinosaur DNA has not yet been found, but if it were, what would we do with it? In the film Jurassic Park, scientists filled the incomplete DNA fragments with sequences from frogs. This is not a very convincing solution. Apart from the fact that it would be incredibly difficult to determine what the missing DNA was, the choice of a frog is rather off track as they are not even in the same animal class, dinosaurs being reptilian and frogs amphibian. A better choice would have been a chicken, as birds are actually dinosaurs, or even an alligator, which is at least a reptile. But any such argument is irrelevant in the absence of dinosaur DNA.
Rather than come up with DNA from millions of years ago, scientists could try manipulating some from living dinosaur specimens, such as the chicken, and going backwards. Attempts are currently being made to reverse engineer the DNA of elephants by tracking each mutation to arrive at a mammoth. But that is only a period of 10,000 years. Doing the same thing to get back to a dinosaur seems like an impossible feat.
Who knows what science will be capable of in years to come? What seems impossible now, might well be possible in the future, but ethical issues would remain. Where would a revitalized dinosaur live, who would own it and what would its function be? Perhaps bringing back animals that man has brought to extinction would be considered reasonable and they could certainly function in a modern ecosystem, but animals that died out naturally millions of years ago should probably be left alone.

Questions 14-18

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G.

You may use any letter more than once.

deciding which living animal could mix their DNA with a dinosaur's

Answer:E

Supporting statement: Apart from the fact that it would be incredibly difficult to determine what the missing DNA was, the choice of a frog is rather off track as they are not even in the same animal class, dinosaurs being reptilian and frogs amphibian.

Keywords: missing, DNA

Keyword location: Paragraph E,3rd line

Explanation: Apart from the fact that it would be incredibly difficult to determine what the missing DNA was, the choice of a frog is rather off track as they are not even in the same animal class, dinosaurs being reptilian and frogs amphibian.

speculating about the future

Answer:G

Supporting statement: Who knows what science will be capable of in years to come?

Keywords: years to come

Keyword location: paragraph G, 1st line

Explanation: Who knows what science will be capable of in years to come? This question shows the speculation about the future.

an archaeological find from the time of the dinosaurs useless in the quest for their DNA

Answer:C

Supporting statement: However, when the nuclei were stained and observed under a high-powered electron microscope, scientists were unable to detect any DNA.

Keywords: observed, unable to detect, DNA

Keyword location: paragraph C, last line

Explanation: However, when the nuclei were stained and observed under a high-powered electron microscope, scientists were unable to detect any DNA.

showing that the science in the film was inaccurate

Answer:E

Supporting statement: In the film Jurassic Park, scientists filled the incomplete DNA fragments with sequences from frogs. This is not a very convincing solution.

Keywords: film, Jurassic Park, not convincing

Keyword location: Paragraph E,2nd line

Explanation: In the film Jurassic Park, scientists filled the incomplete DNA fragments with sequences from frogs. This is not a very convincing solution.

a real example of getting confirmed DNA from a fossil

Answer:D

Supporting statement: The oldest recovered and authenticated DNA from a fossilized bone belongs to a 700,000-year-old horse from northern Canada: So DNA can survive in an observable form in fossils, but dinosaur DNA would be a hundred times older than that of the Canadian horse.

Keywords: fossilized bone, Canadian horse

Keyword location: Paragraph D, last line

Explanation: The oldest recovered and authenticated DNA from a fossilized bone belongs to a 700,000-year-old horse from northern Canada: So DNA can survive in an observable form in fossils, but dinosaur DNA would be a hundred times older than that of the Canadian horse.

Questions 19-20

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD

The film Jurassic Park is about a theme park that has as its attraction dinosaurs that have been created using 19..... genetic material from dinosaurs. When the park loses control of its security system, the dinosaurs run wild.

Answer:Prehistoric

Supporting statement: The plot was set on a remote island, where a wealthy entrepreneur had created a theme park featuring living dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA found in a mosquito, preserved in amber.

Keywords: plot, prehistoric

Keyword location: Paragraph A, 2nd line

Explanation: The plot was set on a remote island, where a wealthy entrepreneur had created a theme park featuring living dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA found in a mosquito, preserved in amber.

The question is whether it would be possible to really return dinosaurs from the 20................ using this method.

Answer:Dead

Supporting statement: It was a successful premise for a Hollywood film, but would it really be possible to bring these long gone reptiles back from the dead - Jurassic Park style?

Keywords: film, dead, style

Keyword location: Paragraph A,4th line

Explanation: It was a successful premise for a Hollywood film, but would it really be possible to bring these long gone reptiles back from the dead - Jurassic Park style?

Questions 21-22

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD.

In the film the genetic material used was found in an amber-preserved 21..... but this would not be possible as amber does not preserve soft tissue. There is always the chance that an insect containing dinosaur blood may have been preserved in some other way, but the likelihood of retrieving the 22............. from within it to use it is remote.

Answer: Mosquito

Keywords: mosquito, preserved,amber

Keyword location: Paragraph A, 2nd line

Answer: DNA

Supporting statement: The mosquito was from fifty million years ago, after the time of the dinosaurs, but that's not to say that there might not be some preserved dinosaur blood somewhere from a mere 20 million years further back than that. However, it would not just require the preservation of blood, but also the DNA within it.

Keywords: blood, DNA

Keyword location: Paragraph B, 4th line

Explanation: The mosquito was from fifty million years ago, after the time of the dinosaurs, but that's not to say that there might not be some preserved dinosaur blood somewhere from a mere 20 million years further back than that. However, it would not just require the preservation of blood, but also the DNA within it.

Questions 23-26

Match each statement with the correct animal, A-C.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

an unlikely candidate for mixing with dinosaur DNA

Answer:C

Keywords: reptilian, frogs

Keyword location: Paragraph E,3rd line

currently the focus of experiments for reverse engineering

Answer:A

Supporting statement: Ancient DNA is often recovered from the bodies of animals found in permafrost, such as a completely preserved 10,000 year-old mammoth found in Siberia in 2013, but these bones or body parts are not fossilized.The oldest recovered and authenticated DNA from a fossilized bone belongs to a 700,000-year-old horse from northern Canada: So DNA can survive in an observable form in fossils, but dinosaur DNA would be a hundred times older than that of the Canadian horse.

Keyword: authenticated, preserved

Keyword location: paragraph D,1st line

Explanation: Ancient DNA is often recovered from the bodies of animals found in permafrost, such as a completely preserved 10,000 year-old mammoth found in Siberia in 2013, but these bones or body parts are not fossilized. The oldest recovered and authenticated DNA from a fossilized bone belongs to a 700,000-year-old horse from northern Canada: So DNA can survive in an observable form in fossils, but dinosaur DNA would be a hundred times older than that of the Canadian horse.